West of her spine
Disclaimer: Although I truly wish I was, I am most definitely not JK Rowling and to my dismay… (Especially in Draco Malfoy's case) I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters.
A/N: Thanks for clicking onto my fanfiction! Be sure to review and let me know what you think! Enjoy!
Chapter One
"Oh look, here comes the mudblood" Draco Malfoy muttered to Blaise Zabini cocking his head in the general direction of a petite brunette who was kissing her mother and father goodbye a few feet behind them, as they leaned casually on the wall of Platform Nine and Three Quarters watching their fellow Hogwarts students pass, occasionally eyeing the pretty girls up and down.
He ran a hand through his most defining feature, his highly unique platinum blond hair, a crease forming between his eyebrows, as Hermione Granger passed them pulling a single suitcase behind her, "Looks like she's looking for Pothead and Weasle," he commented and he saw her reach on her tip-toes and scan the crowd anxiously.
Everything about Hermoine Granger made him sick to his bones, her family, her painstakingly obvious intelligence, the unruly mop on her head she called hair, her constantly hunched over back, her right hand which absolutely LOVED shooting into the air at any opportunity and who could forget Pothead and Weasle, her two best friends whom, with her, made up the Golden Gryffindor Trio. He winced as her caught her smiling at a quivering first year and turned his head in the other direction in distaste.
Blaise nodded in reply to Draco, a scowl on his face... but as Hermoine swept past him he couldn't help but noticing Hermione's robes settling and curving in all the right places modestly covering her petite body, something he'd never noticed before...
Her caramel coloured hair, which for once lay somewhat sleek and shiny around her shoulders forming goddess worthy waves instead of the usual thorn bush it was, shone in the afternoon sun and her smile has improved considerably thanks to her father, she no longer slightly resembled a badger. He chuckled to himself, Hermione Granger, the eager beaver. He made a mental note to call her that sometime.
A new found confidence radiated off her as she walked down the station platform unlike the usual bookworm she was, scurrying around carrying mountains of books which usually covered her… 'Snap out of it, she's a mudblood and a Gryffindor for Christ sake,' he thought to himself as forced himself to look away from the mudblood he'd hated since the day he met, dropping his head to the floor.
Soon after as he shook those thoughts out of his head, his face broke into a genuine smile as he looked up and saw a girl walking towards him, laden with bags, her raven hair blowing slightly in the morning breeze. 'Mel...' he grinned.
Melanie Annare and Blaise had been best friends ever since their first year at Hogwarts and had everything in common.
Both Slytherins and both lacking in brothers and sisters, they had taken salvage in each other and now were so close they considered one another family.
Mel had been put up for adoption as a baby and sadly had never known her parents. The Annare family who had adopted her was a pure-blood couple who loved her more than anything in the world and she cherished them with all her heart.
Though deep-down she secretly wished she had known her real parents wondering who they were and what they looked like and if they were even still alive.
With raven black hair and emerald eyes that had a hint of gold when they hit the light, she had the air of an aristocratic Slytherin about her and was one of the prettiest girls in her year at Hogwarts, perhaps even in the whole school.
Like many other boys, Draco had a crush on Mel from the moment he had set eyes on her and his subtle lust had developed into genuine love over the past two or three years though she hadn't a clue that he liked her more than a friend.
He loved everything about her, from the way her green eyes could make his heart jump in one single glance, to her subtle dimples or her famous playful smirk that she sometimes shot his way though he hid it well under his cold, heartless exterior and grey unforgiving eyes.
While Mel was a Slytherin by name, by nature she was a genuinely loving, caring and thoughtful person though very few people got to see that side of her. She did however, like all Slytherins, consider herself superior to those in the other three houses but with friends like Draco and Blaise who could blame her?
Blaise, also one of Draco's best friends, was born into a pure-blood wizard family, the Zabini's, and had spent most of his childhood alone.
Both his parents working at St. Mungos, his father a Mediwizard and his mother a Surgeon, they spent hours away from home and left Blaise with his Nanny, Sylvie Prochen, a French girl who kept Blaise under strict control and taught him French from a very young age.
He had grown up to a world of broken promises and lonely nights by himself.
As a result he had only bitter feelings towards his parents who had as of yet made no effort to resolve Blaise's and their issues and he really didn't care.
They constantly seemed busy with fund-raisers, important benefits and trips abroad with all the other influential witches and wizards who lived on name-dropping. Not his kind of people.
After all, his whole world had changed once he started Hogwarts and met Mel. She was as good as a sister to him and in his opinion he didn't need his snobby parents when he had her. Both clicking instantly, he made her laugh and she made him feel loved and wanted.
Being tall, dark and handsome with hazel eyes he like Mel had his fair share of admirers at Hogwarts.
Friends regularly got jealous of how much time they spent together, especially Draco, and the odd boyfriend or girlfriend of the duo often went through jealous twinges, but throughout all this Blaise and Mel stayed together through thick and thin.
Breaking his train of thought, Blaise smiled as Mel gave him a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek, but he could feel himself tense up as he saw the satisfied smirk on Draco's face as Mel hugged him, not at all noticing the immense excitement and passion in his unusually unguarded silver eyes- the eyes that looked like they were the luckiest eyes in the world right now.
He couldn't help but feeling a sense of protection over Mel only wanting her to be safe, to keep her from getting hurt and Draco had most definitely hurt his fair share of girls.
Mel shot Blaise a smirk, sensing his pissed off vibes guessing him and Draco had had a fight or something before she arrived and asked "Will we go get a compartment before all the good ones are gone?"
Even though Blaise and Draco had threatened a first year with painful death if he didn't save one for them, they both nodded, following her onto the Hogwarts Express.
Hermione said goodbye to her parents and stepped onto Platform 9 and 3/4 and searched the crowd for her two best friends. She had spent three months in the South of France so hadn't gotten a chance to see Harry and Ron all summer, and couldn't wait to start her seventh and final year with them.
She pushed her way through hoards of students, trolleys, bags and owls occasionally smiling and waving at her fellow Gryffindor's and suddenly her heart jumped when she saw a black haired boy among a group of red-heads.
She discreetly fixed her hair and robes, walked over behind Harry, put her hands over his eyes and asked "Guess Who?" knowing full well Harry would recognize her familiar voice.
"Hey Hermione!" Ron blurted out causing Harry and the rest of the Weasley family to turn around and beam at her, all saying hello in unison.
Smiling, Harry gave his friend of seven years a hug and asked "Hi 'Mione, how was your summer?" She giggled and said "Brilliant, France was great, the three of us have to go there together sometime, but enough about me, how are you two?" she finished giving Ron a big hug.
They both started giving Hermoine a detailed account of their days at The Burrow and how great they had both become at Quidditich as she led them onto Hogwarts Express, finding an empty compartment as Ginny head down the opposite direction with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan.
She laughed as Ron described one brilliant save he had made which involved him falling off his broom, holding on for 'dear life' with one hand and miraculously managing to save the incoming Quaffle with the other.
"It was nothing really though" he added, with a smug look on his face as the train slowly pulled out of the station leaving mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters in a blur behind them. All three feeling a lunge in their stomach when they realised it would be their last time.
As they chatted merrily Hermoine noticed how much Harry had changed over the past three months.
No longer so weak and puny, he had really filled out and definitely gotten taller. He also looked healthy, for once; as it always broke her heart how malnourished he looked after his summers at the Dursley's.
While his hair was still the mess it had always been, it now suited him along with the permanent smirk plastered on his face, a new addition to his face she noticed.
In her opinion and from the pictures Harry had shown her, he and James could have been mistaken for the same person.
While it was taking Harry time to get over Sirius' death, Hermoine marvelled at his strength and at how well he was coping.
No longer the lonely, parent-less little boy he had been he had now grown up to be an independent, strong-willed person ten times stronger after each knock he had faced. He had looked fear in the face on more than one occasion and had suffered more grievances at 17 then most experience in their whole lives.
Ron too had changed over the summer, also after getting taller and indeed looked a lot older than the Ron she remembered from the start of the summer.
All the days of playing Quidditich in the sun had given him extra freckles on his face especially the bridge of his nose, lightened his hair and given him a healthy glow.
Still coping with the pressure of getting good N.E.W.T results like many Weasleys before him, he had really come out of himself over the past few months and had become quite the charmer with the ladies.
The three Gryffindor's shared an enjoyable journey to Hogwarts laughing at the memories from the past six years and Ron and Harry had been congratulating Hermione at the news that she was going to be Head Girl, when their compartment door slid open and Mel Annare stood in the doorway in her Hogwarts robes.
She rolled her eyes and sarcastically apologized, mumbling "Shit…wrong one," to herself.
"Yeah yeah, just keep on moving" Ron suggested ushering her out of their compartment.
Harry met Mel's gaze for a moment but his attention was soon averted back to Ron when he let out a gasp, "Yes! The last Collector Card I need!" as he opened a Chocolate frog wrapper and found the card he had been searching for the past two years.
"That's all 200 of them!" he said proudly, slipping the card into his robe pocket a massive grin on his face.
"Well boys, I think I'm going to go change into my school robes" Hermione announced as she stood and took her Hogwarts robes and her new shiny Head Girl badge out of her suitcase, leaving the compartment door close behind her.
The train corridor was full of people catching up with friends, exchanging holiday gifts and telling each other how their summers had gone.
Hermione pushed past a couple looking very busy indeed and bumped into someone, head on causing her to look at the floor and rub her head in agony.
"Jesus Christ, watch where you're going will you?" a voice exclaimed, soon after adding spitefully "Oh it's you, the Eager Beaver."
"What?" she answered looking up "Oh… I should've guessed… Zabini."
"The one and only" The cocky seventh year answered a scowl on his face, "and if you wouldn't mind, you're in my way."
Hermione barely flinched at his rude comment and raising an eyebrow simply walked around him and down the corridor, without a glance back.
"Bastard" she thought to herself. Thinking back she could have sworn she had seen a badge on Blaise's expensive robes, which had looked a lot like her Head girl one...
She shook the thought out of her head, "As if" and carried on making her way to the girls' bathroom.
"Mione sure has changed hasn't she?" Ron thought out loud, munching on a pumpkin pasty.
"Harry?" he asked when he heard no response, "Harry?" he asked again, a little louder waving a hand on front of the Gryffindor's face who was looking miles away.
Harry, deep in thought, looked up to see Ron looking at him anxiously.
"Well?" Ron asked.
"Well what?" Harry replied, a note of sarcasm in his voice.
"I just said, 'Mione has changed a lot, that's all." Ron replied a little taken back. "Sorry Ron, you just caught me off-guard. Yeah, she really has actually… must be the hair or something" Harry muttered.
The two of them stayed quiet both occasionally glancing at each other in a comfortable silence until Hermoine returned, in her robes announcing "Guys, you better go get changed, we'll be arriving soon."
They both stood up without a word, and walked out of the compartment leaving Hermoine by herself.
'Well what's up their asses?' she asked herself staring out the window at the dark English countryside passing quickly by, butterflies in her stomach in anticipation of the oncoming year. Yet somewhere inside she had this feeling... this feeling that soon everything would change...
A/N: Please let me know what you think!